Zimbabwe court orders elections held by July 31

Zimbabwe's top court ordered on Friday that President Robert Mugabe hold elections in the African country by July 31.

Zimbabweans turn out in their numbers to vote in the constitutional referendum in Harare on March 16, 2013. President Robert Mugabe has now been ordered to hold elections by July 31, 2013. (AFP/Getty Images)

Zimbabwe's top court ordered on Friday that President Robert Mugabe hold elections in the African country by the end of July.

Chidyausiku was ruling on an application to the court by Zimbabwean rights activist Jealousy Mawarire, challenging Mugabe, 89, to set election dates by June 29, arguing that the president risked violating the constitution.

Held under a new constitution endorsed in a referendum in March, the elections will put an end to the power-sharing government of Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, formed in 2009 after a violence-plagued 2008 election that regional leaders said was rigged in Mugabe's favor.